Here is a presentation I created on (Prezi.com), regarding the Life and Works of David Tudor; Avant-Garde Pianist & Experimental Music Composer who lived through the years of (1926-1996). Enjoy and feel free to play around with this Auditory/Visual arrangement of Information 😉
Click Here: The Life of David Tudor!
You should also check out this 18 minute Webisode called “The Prepared Mind: John Cage & David Tudor.” It most certainly opened my mind to the concept of Avant Garde music throughout the 1950’s & 60’s.
David Tudor: Rainforest-1968, composed for The Merce Cunningham Dance Company
EarthPop Studios 
Nice Rachel! Very cool presentation. I love the record player layout. If you haven’t already seen this interview with Merce Cunningham talking about working with Cage and Tudor I think you’d dig it.
http://www.mercecunningham.org/film-media/mondays-with-merce/episode-15-the-prepared-mind-john-cage-and-david-tudor/
Also, I don’t think I ever hear Tudor referred to as Dave, always David. It suggests that you knew him personally, perhaps?
P
K
How interesting, Paul! I did this presentation for Scott Colburn’s Special Topics: Sound Art class, and when I drew the name out of the hat (to choose our composers)… it said.. “Dave Tudor!”
I wrote the presentation as though he formally went by “Dave.” 🙂
Rachel,
Thank you for opening my mind up to a (new) concept, at least in my reality…..
This was a very thoughtful, incredible arrangement of ideas regarding the world of avant-garde music; something that I have never really dwelled or pursued much.
I’m super intrigued by the contextualizing of the two guys in the short film, John Cage and David Tudor. I was particularly intrigued in the respect of what these two minds brought to the world of art, but in a totally NEW, radical way!
It was very much paralleled with what I presented the other day about Robert Moog and his influence on music and electronics meshing as one;
Your blog has reminded me of this same amazing concept! Yet, it is almost as if, one can say, Cage and Tudor had an even more amazing influence on art in general, dance as a medium……. AND also as a kind of “birth” of a new form of music as well, the music of Avant-Garde……
This musical energy of Avant-Garde also is a newer concept to me as well, which I appreciate you bringing up…..
The recording “Rainforest” was truly extraordinary, by every meaning and feel of the word.
(Continued Reply)
I was amazed at the sounds and recreations (in a completely new way) that were recorded on this track from 1968. One thing that blew my mind was the re-mastered effect of the panning, giving it an intense Surround Sound feel. It was alarming how similar they were able to re-imagine the sounds of the rainforest with electronic circuits!
In the short film (Episode 15: John Cage and David Tudor): my favorite part of the entire video was when John Cage comments on the often under-appreciated sounds and stories that take place around us in the sonic field; when waiting in a line, standing around, not giving notice to incredible audio details around us!
This, I believe, has inspired me to take a deeper look into the “avant-garde” concept and genre you are highly interested in…… Great Work!
Thank you, Drew! What a lavish response you have provided! I’m glad that you find Cage & Tudor’s work as fascinating as I do… Sometimes, it’s important to take a stroll through memory lane and pick up some of the forgotten pieces that tend to be misunderstood. I find solace within the Avant-Garde movement because it allows for me to feel something that I don’t quite understand. A lot of my work (that seems normal to me), is really quite experimental and hence, “strange” to those who don’t make an effort to understand it. The work of Cage & Tudor (and others like them), permits for one to dive into the many sonic layers of sound, and therefore, get quite lost!